Camping: Tuesday
Aug. 13th, 2005 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsOmaha reported sleeping poorly, so onto the list we added an inflatable camping pad and a blanket. We had given the spare blanket to the girls and Omaha said she felt cold last night. I awoke early and hurtled into town to pick up the cash we needed to pay off our IOU and get our supplies. The round-trip took three hours, mostly because there was construction on the road into Rainier National Park and the road was down to a half-lane. A single lane of a two-lane road, it was not just that traffic each way had to switch off, but we also had to wait for the asphalt trucks coming up the mountain. I didn't complain; the wait let me listen to another two chapters of Niccolo Rising by Dorothy Dunnet.
When I got back I discovered that Omaha had already fed the girls a breakfast of breakfast bars and milk, and I had my own when I got back. Omaha and I teamed up to make PB&J sandwiches, snack bags of banana chips, raisins, peanuts, and dried pineapple, and filled all of our water bottles.
Then we went for our first hike: Glacier Basin and Emmons Moraine trails which led out of our campsite. The total length was seven miles. It was a beautiful hike that led up the edge of Eammons Glacier ridge. At first, the shady, deep forest kept us cool, and we refilled out water bottles from falling waterfalls, using the Pur water filter Omaha and I had bought many years ago. Pur has gone out of the portable filter business but their design was bought by Katydin and improved, and is still the best portable filter for this kind of work. The water tasted delicious, like nothing you can get down in the city.
The trail followed the Interfork River, which we crossed to reach the Emmons Moraine trail. That was much more exposed, and we slathered ourselves with sunscreen before continuing up the mountainside. It got dusty and somewhere along the way we called a halt for lunch. A chipmunk entertained us with its constant running back and forth across the trail, hoping to find a dropped crumb when we left. We reached an ominous sign that read "Warning: Maintained Trail Ends Here" and after a few minutes' more walking, we turned around. There was still a social trail, but we weren't going to try and press our luck. Instead, we went back down, crossed the log bridge that traversed the narrow Interfork River, and started hiking up to Glacier Basin.
We never made it. After drinking from the Interfork, the girls were refreshed, but we'd already done three miles and the girls were getting tired. Omaha and I had asked much of them this day, and they had walked like troopers, but enough was enough and we headed back down. We saw frogs, a snake, and in one open area a large number of butterflies flitting about.
Many rest stops later, we fell back into camp and all of us lay down for a nap. It was only around 3:00pm, but exhaustion was the order of the afternoon. Well, except for Kouryou-chan, who got up and played outside in the campground. A half-hour later, I rose, and Omaha and Yamaarashi-chan a half-hour after that.
After our nap, we walked across the White River, taking a scary narrow bridge and then up a small trail. We only went for about half an hour, but I have to wonder from where the heck these kids get all their energy.
When we got back, Omaha started a fire. She's much better at that than I am. I made a sausage marinara sauce and boiled rotini; it actually worked very well, but next time I'll know to bring ground beef instead as well as prepacked spices. Afterward, we cleaned up in a team: Omaha washed, Yamaarashi-chan rinsed, I dried, and Kouryou-chan put stuff away. We cooked marshmallows and the girls ran around making up games as they played until the dark fell on us. They went to bed without complaint. Omaha and I watched the stars for a little while, then went to bed ourselves.
When I got back I discovered that Omaha had already fed the girls a breakfast of breakfast bars and milk, and I had my own when I got back. Omaha and I teamed up to make PB&J sandwiches, snack bags of banana chips, raisins, peanuts, and dried pineapple, and filled all of our water bottles.
Then we went for our first hike: Glacier Basin and Emmons Moraine trails which led out of our campsite. The total length was seven miles. It was a beautiful hike that led up the edge of Eammons Glacier ridge. At first, the shady, deep forest kept us cool, and we refilled out water bottles from falling waterfalls, using the Pur water filter Omaha and I had bought many years ago. Pur has gone out of the portable filter business but their design was bought by Katydin and improved, and is still the best portable filter for this kind of work. The water tasted delicious, like nothing you can get down in the city.
The trail followed the Interfork River, which we crossed to reach the Emmons Moraine trail. That was much more exposed, and we slathered ourselves with sunscreen before continuing up the mountainside. It got dusty and somewhere along the way we called a halt for lunch. A chipmunk entertained us with its constant running back and forth across the trail, hoping to find a dropped crumb when we left. We reached an ominous sign that read "Warning: Maintained Trail Ends Here" and after a few minutes' more walking, we turned around. There was still a social trail, but we weren't going to try and press our luck. Instead, we went back down, crossed the log bridge that traversed the narrow Interfork River, and started hiking up to Glacier Basin.
We never made it. After drinking from the Interfork, the girls were refreshed, but we'd already done three miles and the girls were getting tired. Omaha and I had asked much of them this day, and they had walked like troopers, but enough was enough and we headed back down. We saw frogs, a snake, and in one open area a large number of butterflies flitting about.
Many rest stops later, we fell back into camp and all of us lay down for a nap. It was only around 3:00pm, but exhaustion was the order of the afternoon. Well, except for Kouryou-chan, who got up and played outside in the campground. A half-hour later, I rose, and Omaha and Yamaarashi-chan a half-hour after that.
After our nap, we walked across the White River, taking a scary narrow bridge and then up a small trail. We only went for about half an hour, but I have to wonder from where the heck these kids get all their energy.
When we got back, Omaha started a fire. She's much better at that than I am. I made a sausage marinara sauce and boiled rotini; it actually worked very well, but next time I'll know to bring ground beef instead as well as prepacked spices. Afterward, we cleaned up in a team: Omaha washed, Yamaarashi-chan rinsed, I dried, and Kouryou-chan put stuff away. We cooked marshmallows and the girls ran around making up games as they played until the dark fell on us. They went to bed without complaint. Omaha and I watched the stars for a little while, then went to bed ourselves.
